Ocean, nature, critters, and recreation

July 2013

Jul 31, 2013

It could be said that the waves were perfect on a recent morning at a remote location in Java, in southern Indonesia.

Perfect, except for the appalling amount of trash and other debris, which transformed the typically amazing experience of getting barreled into one that left both surfer and photographer feeling nauseated.

"It was crazy. I kept seeing noodle packets floating next to me," said Zak Noyle, the photographer. "It was very disgusting to be in there; I kept thinking I would see a dead body of some sort for sure."

"The trash had never been seen like this before in Indonesia; all of us were baffled," said Noyle, a staff photographer for Surfer magazine. "The trash in Dede's photo was the worst. No others came close to that type of disaster."

The republic of Indonesia is a mecca for surfers who stay on its many islands and travel via boat to remote spots that they often enjoy by themselves.

The atmosphere is idyllic and some spots remain pristine but, depending on currents, some end up strewn with garbage and debris.

"The populated areas just dump their trash in the rivers or straight onto the sand to be washed away," explained Jeff Hall, Noyle's agent. "Unfortunately the tides and currents do a great job of carrying it away and depositing it on some of the most isolated (previously pristine) beaches in the world."

The location of Noyle's photo shoot with Suriyana was a small bay far from civilization, with no buildings in view. Just a beach lined with trees.

The trash was delivered by the current, and by a large swell that pushed more debris into the bay. It was a dangerous shoot because there were large objects in the water, including tree trunks.

But it was worthwhile, Noyle said, because of the response generated by the images.
"The vibe was all the same.

The reactions of all the surfers were of shock and disgust at what humans could do to the beautiful ocean," Noyle explained. "No one person or country is to blame—it's all of us."

Interestingly, Hall said the Indonesian government recently conducted a study and tied some of the most visible floating debris to corporations.

These companies were asked to help fund a local ocean-awareness campaign and help sponsor local surfers.
Coca-Cola was one of the companies, and it sponsored Suriyana, in return for having the company logo featured on the deck of his surfboard (it's visible in the photos, beneath the Quiksilver logo).

Said Hall: "This was one of Dede's first trips with an American photographer after affixing the Coca-Cola logo to his board, but I don't think this was exactly the image Coca-Cola was hoping for."

Jul 30, 2013

More people these days are critical of SeaWorld and other marine parks for capturing and keeping killer whales in captivity, thanks largely to "Blackfish" the movie.

But if you could ask some of the mammals the killer whales prey upon, they'd probably have a different opinion.

The accompanying footage, captured in 2012 but uploaded to YouTube for the first time on Friday, shows a pod of killer whales working together to kill a large fin whale in La Paz Bay in Baja California Sur.

The One Baja, a yacht charter company, uploaded the footage Friday and stated that the fin whale, estimated to measure at least 50 feet, ultimately was killed.

"It just stopped swimming and sank. Pieces of meat started floating," Mariel Correa, spokeswoman for The One Baja, said Tuesday.

If so, this is rare footage of a rare event because killer whales generally attack large whales to get to their calves, and usually it's only calves that are killed.

Correa said that another large fin whale with a calf was "about 10 minutes in the distance" and added: "It was as if they were running away."

Killer whales have been active in the Sea of Cortez recently, and there have been several encounters during the past couple of years.

Fin whales can reach about 80 feet in length, and are second in size only to blue whales.

They're also among the swiftest of the great whales, but apparently, they're not always swift enough.

Jul 29, 2013

Divers off Australia were horrified to find a mako shark dangling upside down while tethered to a buoy rope in the middle of the water column, its mouth agape, as if this were the end result of its struggle to breathe.

The accompanying photo was supplied as a courtesy to ABC Australia by Robbert Westerdyk, who described the scene as barbaric and "ugly to see."

He cut the rope and let the dead shark sink to the bottom. Westerdyk discovered this ghastly scene Saturday at a popular dive spot off New South Wales.

Other divers were equally horrified to witness this apparent act of cruelty.

"Someone had actually tied its tail around this marker buoy," Westerdyk said.
"Someone must have done it because there was also a big slice through its mid sections."

The ABC story quoted David Powter of Newcastle University as saying,
"This is such a senseless act for such a beautiful creature and it would apply if it wasn't a shark; if it wasn't a marine organism. It's just such a senseless act to take a life like that for no purpose."

Powter guessed that recreational shark anglers were responsible. New South Wales Fisheries is investigating the incident.

Jul 26, 2013

In support of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife
and its effort to keep hunters and anglers informed, Pete Thomas
Outdoors, on Thursday or Friday, posts marine biologist Carrie Wilson's
weekly California Outdoors Q&A column:

Question: In the regs it states, "It is unlawful to take or assist in the taking of any fish in or from this state, by computer-assisted remote fishing." However, I have heard that you can use a remote-controlled boat to tow a line and or bait out as long as the bait and hook are connected to a rod and reel and not to the boat. Is there any truth to this? (Toby M.)

Answer: Most of these remote-controlled boats that people talk about are not powered by computers. They are battery powered. Only remote computer-assisted fishing is prohibited. Even though the remote-controls may employ some computer technology, this law does not prohibit their use as long as the person in control is present at the site. Thus, these types of boats are legal to use so long as the angler maintains control of the hook and line via a fishing rod. Remote-controlled boats are most often used to take hook and line out farther or into tight places that the angler cannot reach by regular casting.

Remember that a legal number of hooks must be used, and in inland waters you are limited to either three hooks or three artificial lures with a maximum of three hooks on each lure (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 2.00).

Q: My dad and I often hunt together. During archery season and squirrel season, I deer hunt with a bow and he always comes along with me. We were wondering if it’s okay for him to hunt squirrels with a .22 rifle while I deer hunt. (William H.)

A group of British Columbia fishermen received quite a surprise recently when they encountered a cougar swimming at high speeds between Nootka and Vancouver islands.

Veteran guide Graham Nielsen told the Times Colonist he has seen swimming bears and wolves, but never a cougar.
He added—and the video reveals—that the cougar seemed intent on climbing onto his 24-foot boat, which held three passengers and their impressive haul of halibut and salmon.

"One fellow saw something near the shore," Nielsen said. "He said, ‘Hey, it’s an otter. Weird. It looks like it’s paddling.’ So I say, ‘Otters don’t paddle.’
We got a bit closer and saw it was a cougar—not full grown, but big. Probably 10 feet, nose to tail."

"It was moving real fast, too. It swam nearly halfway across—about a quarter mile. I didn’t know they could swim like that. I have no doubt it would have tried to climb onto the motor pod, given an opportunity."

Danielle Thompson of Parks Canada said that while it's rare to see cougars swimming—they're nocturnal predators and tend to avoid humans—they're prolific water travelers.

"They'll commonly swim between islands in search of prey," she said. "Their preferred prey is deer, which also swim well."

This might be useful information for anyone who encounters a cougar and has to choose between standing their ground (preferred) and trying to escape by swimming.

She recognized the name and told me that Masaharu "Fatty" Tsuida was serving as a cook as part of the U.S. occupation forces in Germany in 1946. He received a Soldier's medal for exemplary service as a non-combatant, and a letter from Harry Truman.

A stove had exploded in the mess tent and Tsuida was severely burned while carrying the flaming appliance outside the tent to prevent a major fire.

"He picked it up and threw it outside, saving a lot of people from serious burns--although he himself was severely hurt," Canada said.

In San Diego, Tsuida and his family lived on Pacific Highway in fish camp-style housing built by canneries for their workers.

His father was a boat captain for Westgate Cannery and Canada said the president of Westgate, Wade Ambrose, helped Tsuida's father and other Japanese investors in building the tuna boat, Westgate.

So fishing was in Tsuida's blood and, apparently, 90 years of living has not changed that.

Jul 22, 2013

A great white shark estimated to measure 18 feet was spotted Monday afternoon off the Palos Verdes Peninsula, just after it had bitten a sea lion in half.

The sighting was made aboard Triumphant out of Harbor Breeze Cruises in Long Beach, at about 3 p.m., in 300 feet of water beyond Trump National Golf Course.

Capt. Danny Salas said by phone that there were no passengers on the trip. But there was an NBC cameraman, who will have exclusive footage, presumably for Monday night's newscast.

Kera Mathes, a naturalist form the Aquarium of the Pacific, also boarded the boat at the last minute and did not bring camera gear. (File image at right is generic.)

Salas, who christened his new high-speed catamaran two weeks ago, said NBC had come aboard on a special charter to try to obtain footage of a peculiar-looking blue whale named Hook, because of the odd shape of its fluke.

Instead they were witness to a much rarer white shark predation event, although they did not see the initial attack. (Hook has been sighted off Orange and Los Angeles counties this past week.)

Mathes was first to spot a disturbance, perhaps 200 feet from the boat. Salas piloted Triumphant to the area and they saw half of a sea lion and lots of blood at the surface.

"This shark cut a 2o0-pound sea lion in half with one bite," Salas said. "It was very colorful."

Then the shark's fin emerged, and the shark materialized. Salas and the cameraman stayed with the shark for about 20 minutes.

"It circled around the sea lion and would bite little chunks," Salas said. "Then it swam under our boat, as if trying to chase us away."

The group was still at sea, looking for Hook, at the time of this post.

--Pete Thomas

Note: At the time of this post there were no still images available. White shark photo is a generic file image

Two Central California divers experienced the thrill of a lifetime recently when two lunge-feeding humpback whales emerged only a few feet away as they held onto a safety rope (see video, and pay close attention at 30 seconds).

The amazing encounter occurred during a SloDivers charter at Souza Rock, about two miles off Morro Bay.

Shawn Stamback, one of two divers in the footage, said humpback whales could be seen feeding about a quarter-mile away when he and Francis Antigua got into the water with snorkeling gear and cameras to pass time before their next scuba dive.

"We were just floating around in the water, hoping to get some shots of the whales in the distance, when all of a sudden the sardines started going crazy," Stamback said.

Jay Hebrard and Jeremy Bonnett were videotaping from the boat when the whales lunged upward in full gulp-mode.

Humpback whales weigh up to 40 tons and feed on shrimp-like krill and schooling baitfish, such as sardines. They take in vast amounts of fish and sea water, and expel the water through baleen plates.

It's against the law to harass or alter the behavior of whales and other marine mammals. Boaters are advised to stay at least 100 yards from whales.

Monica DeAngelis, a mammal expert with the National Marine Fisheries Service, said she could not tell based on the video whether the divers were violating any laws.

"[But] they certainly are lucky no one got hurt," she said. "In addition, they were clearly closer than the [100-yard] recommended guidelines."

Stamback said he had a feeling that the whales knew he and Antigua were in the water, and missed them intentionally.

Which is good for him because just before the whales emerged, he noticed that thousands of sardines had amassed beneath him.

Jul 19, 2013

Welsh actor Julian Lewis Jones was part of an angling team involved in what's said to be the first-ever mako shark capture in Wales.

The sleek predator measured six feet and was estimated to weigh about 200 pounds before it was set free.

"It was around 40 minutes before we had him on the side of the boat and he went a bit ballistic and you can't control it--it's a wild animal, it's like trying to control a rhino," Jones told the BBC.

It was caught about 30 miles off the Pembrokeshire coast, near Milford Haven.

"We saw this flash that whizzed past the boat--it was a big, white belly and it went so, so fast," Jones said. "We all looked at each other and said, 'That's a mako,' and we knew the importance of it. This is something that you dream of."

Jones is one of the stars of the TV sitcom, "Stella," and has appeared in British shows such as "Where the Heart Is," and "Caerdydd."

In 2009 he starred in Clint Eastwood's drama, "Invictus."

According to the BBC report, this is the first catch of a mako shark in U.K. waters in 42 years.

Makos are the world's fastest sharks, capable of swimming in bursts of 30 m.p.h. And, as you can see in the photo, they boast lots of exceptionally sharp teeth.